Despite a number of setbacks, including injuries, Jamaica’s junior track and field athletes once again prevailed against the odds to top the medals table at the 50th Carifta Games that ended on Monday at the Thomas A Robinson Stadium in The Bahamas with a total of 78 — 40 gold, 22 silver and 16 bronze.

It was, however, good enough to extend Jamaica’s run of topping the medals table to 37 consecutive years, going back to 1985 when they dethroned Bahamas who were going for a third-straight win.

A lot was expected of the Jamaican team that won a record 92 medals last year when the event was held at the National Stadium in Kingston and for the most part, they delivered including a championship record in the Under-20 girls’ sprint hurdles.

Jamaica’s haul of 78 medals was the lowest since 2013 when they won 69 medals in The Bahamas after winning 78 the year before in Bermuda and 66 in Montego Bay in 2011.

The setbacks started on the first day when national Under-20 men’s 100m record holder Bouwahjgie Nkrumie pulled up in the first round of the 100m and later in the semi-finals, defending champion Deandre Daley was disqualified for a false start.

Hosts Bahamas were second overall with 46 medals, inclusive of 10 gold, 13 silver and 23 bronze; Trinidad and Tobago were next with nine gold, 10 silver and 12 bronze; St Kitts/Nevis won five gold, two silver and four bronze while Guyana and the US Virgin Islands both won three gold medals each.

Five countries — Barbados, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Belize, and Cayman Islands — all won two gold medals while St Lucia, Antigua and Dominica won a single gold.

The championship record was set by Alexis James in the Under-20 girls’ 100m hurdles where she ran 13.06 seconds (0.9m/s) to retain her title and break the record of 13.15 seconds set by compatriot Amoi Brown in 2018, also in The Bahamas.

Jaydon Hibbert, who set the Under-20 boys’ triple jump record 16.46m last year in Jamaica, retained his title on Sunday with a 16.11m effort to open his outdoor season.

Joseph Salmon won the Boys’ Under-17 discus throw gold medal on Sunday with a mark of 46.67m, beating St Lucia’s Denzel Smith (44.31m) while Javontae Smith, who was fourth in the shot put, took the bronze medal with 43.12m.